What to do about a crap mood

Managing a crap mood is hard, but it’s possible. There are two main things you can do to try and deal with a crap mood.

1. Acknowledge that you're feeling crap and start to work out the cause of your crap mood. The most important part of dealing with a crap mood is just to realise and acknowledge that you're feeling down. Sometimes that can be enough to shift your thinking pattern. You can also try and suss out why you're feeling crap. Some strategies you can try to help identify the cause of a crap mood include - writing about how you're feeling, talking to someone you trust to get a new perspective, or using an app like In Hand to help you track your moods.

2. Develop positive strategies to help you cope with feeling crap. Here are some examples:

Write about how you’re feeling.

Stick to your routines.

Plan things and set goals. Making yourself get out and do things has been proven to lift a down mood.

Try something new, such as an activity that will give you new skills or that you’ll find entertaining, fun or challenging.

What if it doesn’t go away?

Sometimes it doesn’t matter what we try, a crap mood won’t go away. This might mean that you need to make a bigger change in your life, or that something more serious is happening with your mental health. Read more about why am I sad all the time to understand when sadness has become a problem.

What can I do now?

Organise to catch up with friends or family.

Use the ReachOut NextStep tool to get personalised support options based on what you’re looking for.

Hop on the ReachOut Forums and talk with other people who have been through this.